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DEAR AMY: I have a 12-year-old daughter. Her biological father passed away when she was 2 years old. I got married when she was 5. He and I separated when she was 10. We're now divorced. He loves my daughter very much and has considered her his own child.

DEAR AMY: All our lives my parents have made sure my sister and I were treated equally when it came to gifts and money. That continued into our post-college early adulthood -- sometimes Mom would give me money because she went shopping with my sister and bought her clothes or things for the house.